Highway guard



Nov. 28, 1939. J, E MCCRACKEN 2,181,703

HIGHWAY GUARD Fileff. April rio, 1937 Patented Nov. 28, 1939 idpifilhi@tiri fil HIGHWAY opzien Joseph E, lllcraclien, Bethlehem, Pa., assigner`to Bethlehem Steel Company, a corporation of Pennsylvania,

Application April 3i), 1937, Serial No. l39,926

7 Claims.

My invention relates to guards such as are installed along the sides ofhighways and more particularly to those highway guards of the semirigidtype.

The primary purpose of a guard rail is to protect dangerous sections ofhighways so as to prevent vehicles from accidentally leaving thehighways and the guard rail should be of such structure that it willwithstand the impact of a vehicle and at the same time reduce to aminimum. the damage to such vehicle and to the oc cupants thereof.

One object of my invention is to provide an improved highway guardstructure which will effectively resist impacts transmitted thereto bytravelling Vehicles coming into contact with the guard rail and therebyprevent said vehicles from leaving the highway and at the same time toprovide a structure which will sufciently absorb the shocks 'transmittedthereto so that no substantial damage will occur to said vehicles.

Another object of my invention is to provide a structure'which issufciently rigid so as to be self-sustaining, thereby eliminating thenecessity for end tension members, such as springs, anchor `rods oranchors, thus eifecting a substantial economy in erection andmaintenance.

A further object of my invention is to provide a guard rail whichpresents to the roadway a surface free of projections along its entirelength, including joints, thus permitting the vehicle, upon impact, toslide freely and to gradually decelerate, thereby eliminating anypossibility of .a sudden and disastrous stopping of said vehicle.

The novel features of my invention will be more fully understood fromthe following description and claims taken with the accompanyingdrawing, in which Fig- 1 is a side elevation'of the road guard structureembodying my invention;

Fig. 2 is a perspective view of a portion of the road guard structureshown in Fig. l; and

Fig. 3 is a section taken along line 3-3 of Fig. l in the directionindicated by the arrows.

Referring to the drawing morel in detail, I show a road guard` structurecomprising a plurality of posts or supports l0 having a plurality ofmetal guard rails II mounted thereon. The guard rail II as shown in thedrawing comprises a plate member having a relatively deep longitudinalcorrugation I2 and at portions i3 and I4. The corrugation I2 engages thesupports IIl and spaces the portions I3 and I4 at each side of thecorrugation I2 from the supports Ill. Corrugation I2 also impartsstrength to the rail II and enables therefor.

(Cl, 25E-13.1)

from center to center of the supports or posts Il! d,

and are connected in an end to end iiush rela "l0 tion by angle membersl@ and il which are disposed above and below the corrugation E2 andengage the adjoining portions I3 and I4, respectively, of the respectiveplate members. The` rails II are preferably connected'by placing thevertical legs I3 and i9 of the angle members I6 and I'I, respectively,against the rear faces of the portions I3 and it of the plate membersand securing them together by placing bolts 29 or other suitablefastening means through the open ings 2I provided therein. The openings2i are preferably larger than the shank of said fastening means 2li soas to provide means to permit movement of the rails II due to thermalexpansion and contraction. A slight clearance is also. provided betweenthe ends of the rails i i to permit expansion thereof.

An elongated slot is provided in the ends of the post engaging portionI5 of the corrugation I2 of the adjoining rails II, thus forming anopening 22 through which a bolt or other suitable fastening means 23 ispassed to attach rails I I to the posts Hl. The opening 22 in theadjoining rails is longer than the diameter of the shank of thefastening means 23 passing therethrough, thus allowing for thermalexpansion and contraction of the rails Ii. As canreadily be seen, thejoint thus formed has a surface free of projections which will permit aVehicle impacting therewith to slide along the guard rail structure, andtherefore to be gradually decelerated until it is brought under control,thereby eliminating damage to occupants, vehicle and. guard rail whichinvariably occurs when a vehicle is suddenly stopped.

The horizontal legs 24 and 25 of the angle members lia and ll,respectively, lare situated in relatively close proximity to the postengaging portion I5 of the corrugation I 2, and extend from the rearfaces of portions I3 and Ill of the plate member tov subtsantially theopposed face of the post Il). Theangle members I6 and Il in addition toconstituting connecting means for adjoining rails I i also constitutereinforcing means Upon impact of a vehicle with the rails II of theguard rail structure, the angle members I6 and I1 by their engagementwith the posts will provide supports for the portions I3 and It of theplate member and thereby prevent the rails from collapsing and thusobviate any possibility of the vehicle striking the posts. Due to theangle members being in slidable relation to the post, the rails H arepermitted to spread transversely to a limited degree upon the initialimpact of the vehicle. After impact, the rails will assume their normalshape, and return the angle members I6 and l1 to their originalposition.

It will readily be seen that one of the advantages inherent in thestructure of my guard rail is the ease with which moisture Will draintherefrom, thereby avoiding corrosion and prolonging the life of therail.

While I have shown my invention in but one form, it will be obvious tothose skilled in the art that it is not so limited, but is susceptibleof various other changes and modications without departing from thespirit thereof, and I desire, therefore, that only such limitationsshall be placed thereupon as are imposed by the prior art or as arespecifically set forth in the appended claims.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new and desire tosecure by Letters Patent is:

l. A highway guard comprising a plurality of spaced supports and railsintermediate said supports, said rails comprising impact receivingportions spaced from said supports and a centrally disposed longitudinalcorrugated portion engaging said supports and secured thereto andrelatively short members intermediate the support and the rails havingtheir ends terminating adjacent the supports.

2. A highway guard comprising a plurality of spaced supports, railsintermediate said supports, said rails having their end portions inalignment at said supports, said rails comprising relatively deeplongitudinal centrally disposed corrugations engaging said supports andspacing the outer portions of the rails adjacent the corrugations fromsaid supports, a flanged member disposed intermediate the said outerportions of said rails and said supports, said flanged member having aflange secured to and cooperating with said outer portions of said railsto retain the rails in facial alignment and having a portion extendingsubstantially to said supports.

3. A highway guard comprising a plurality of supports, intermediaterails having their end portions in alignment at the supports, said railscomprising centrally disposed longitudinal corrugations constitutingsupport engaging means and spacing means for spacing the outer por'-tions of the rail from said supports, land flanged *Y extendingsubstantially to said supports, and fas-` tening means cooperating withsaid corrugations and said supports to retain said rails in assembledrelation with said supports.

5. A highway guard comprising a plurality of spaced supports, a platemember intermediate said supports, said plate member having a deepcorrugation extending rearly of the face thereof and portions'at eachside of the corrugation, said corrugation constituting strengthening andsupport engaging means, and the portions of the plate at the sides ofthe corrugations being in spaced relation with the supports, and angleat each side of the corrugation, each of said angle members extendingacross the face of a support and having its ends terminating adjacentthe edges of said support.

6. A highway guard comprising a pluralityof spaced supports, platemembers intermediate said supports, said plate members having deep corkrugations extending rearly of the face thereof,

and portions at each side of the corrugations, said corrugationsconstituting strengthening and post engaging means, the portions of theplate members at the sides of the ,corrugations being in'spaced relationwith the supports, and relatively short members having ,their ends terminating adjacent the edges of the supports adapt- 5* ed to engage thesupports upon impact ofna vehicle with the guard.

7. AY highway guard comprising spaced supports and rails intermediatesaid supports, said rails comprising a corrugated portion'having theouter surface thereof engaging the supports and spacing the remainder ofthe rail from the supports, and an angle member intermediate the supportand adjacent rails connecting the ends of said rails.

JOSEPH E. MCCRACKE'N.

members intermediate the support and the plate 30

